Re:On Tyranny [book]
by hayst4ck on Friday March 28, 2025 @08:36AM
(#43504624)
He has a new book On Freedom, too. I haven't read it yet, but I have watched him give excellent talks on youtube, which reference it.
I believe his core thesis in On Freedom is that America has focused on negative freedom, when what really matters is positive freedom.
"Negative freedom" is the idea that no government should interfere with your life. Authoritarian regimes arbitrarily exercise power, and that results in people being prevented from doing things or forced to do things. Maybe that's restrictions on speech or protest. Focusing on "negative freedom" turns people against their governments, which creates a sort of power vacuum anyone with resources is happy to fill. Negative freedom is good, nobody should want the government interfering with their lives, but focusing solely on negative freedom leads to authoritarianism. We can see this effect right now with "free speech absolutists" functionally becoming oligarchs.
He says what people should focus on instead is "positive freedom" -- The idea that you have the freedom to do what you want. If you don't have health, money, or education, you can't really be free. There is no freedom in a hospital bed. So healthcare creates positive freedom. Building housing lets you spend more money on things you want to do instead of rent, that's positive freedom. Without education, you are more easily victimized by those who wish to manipulate you and you are less capable of producing things of value. So education is freeing.
He also has two major series of talks.
One, I believe, touches on his book The Road to Unfreedom and is absolutely worth watching if you have any interest in politics.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej_D0YkDjy8
He says from a historian's perspective what is happening is a coup and it is also very likely a decapitation strike, particularly if we imagine what is happening here were happening to a foreign country: https://archive.is/fNpSShttps://archive.is/1xkxK
I believe his core thesis in On Freedom is that America has focused on negative freedom, when what really matters is positive freedom.
"Negative freedom" is the idea that no government should interfere with your life. Authoritarian regimes arbitrarily exercise power, and that results in people being prevented from doing things or forced to do things. Maybe that's restrictions on speech or protest. Focusing on "negative freedom" turns people against their governments, which creates a sort of power vacuum anyone with resources is happy to fill. Negative freedom is good, nobody should want the government interfering with their lives, but focusing solely on negative freedom leads to authoritarianism. We can see this effect right now with "free speech absolutists" functionally becoming oligarchs.
He says what people should focus on instead is "positive freedom" -- The idea that you have the freedom to do what you want. If you don't have health, money, or education, you can't really be free. There is no freedom in a hospital bed. So healthcare creates positive freedom. Building housing lets you spend more money on things you want to do instead of rent, that's positive freedom. Without education, you are more easily victimized by those who wish to manipulate you and you are less capable of producing things of value. So education is freeing.
He also has two major series of talks.
One, I believe, touches on his book The Road to Unfreedom and is absolutely worth watching if you have any interest in politics.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej_D0YkDjy8
The other is a reading of On Tyranny as well as discussion of each chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tocssf3w80&list=PLhZxrogyTo...
He also has a substack with quality information and analysis: https://snyder.substack.com/
He says from a historian's perspective what is happening is a coup and it is also very likely a decapitation strike, particularly if we imagine what is happening here were happening to a foreign country: https://archive.is/fNpSS https://archive.is/1xkxK